Ken Mulhearn RIP

Prestwich_Blue said:
Sad news. He was the keeper for most of the 1967/8 title winning season but he would probably never have been at City if Joe Mercer hadn't been a skinflint.

Harry Dowd was first choice keeper - solid if unspectacular - and I suspect Joe & Mal thought they could do better. Harry, famously, much preferred his chosen trade of plumbing to playing football but the money was better at City. So we were on the lookout for a new goalkeeper and Gordon Banks, having just passed 30, was told that Leicester thought he was past his best & that saw the young Peter Shiton as their long-term keeper. So the word went out that he was available and City were very interested. Joe & Mal agreed that he'd be an asset, that the £50k price Leicester were asking was reasonable & the board were also happy. Mal then went away, leaving Mercer to do the deal.

Joe however, always liked to save a bit of money if he could and offered Leicester £45k, which they rejected. Banks was also talking to Stoke, who didn't quibble and paid the full amount so he went to the Potteries. Malcolm was furious when he heard that Joe had screwed up the chance to sign one of the world's best keepers and they had to look elsewhere. Ken had done well enough at Stockport but he was no Gordon Banks and it's not clear that he would have been first choice at City, at least not in the short term, as he was only in his early 20's.

However just after we signed him, Harry got injured and wasn't available for the start of the season. Despite having signed Ken, Alan Ogley went in nets for the first couple of games then Harry took over again. I'm not sure whether it was injury or that Joe & Mal weren't happy but Harry lost his place and Ken then went in nets after we lost to Arsenal. His first game was the derby at Maine Road, which we lost 2-1. However Ken stayed as first choice keeper for the rest of the season and we won the title but the following season he was the scapegoat for our loss at Fenerbache, after he dropped a cross he should have caught and which led to a goal. He didn't play again for the rest of that season, with Joe Corrigan making his first appearances. He played a few more games in the 1969/70 season, none of which we won or even kept a clean sheet in but that was the end. He went to Shrewsbury, who he served with great distinction, making 370 league apearance in the 9 seasons he was there.

He was one of the surviving members of the 1968 title winning team, along with Tony Book, Mike Summerbee, Franny Lee & Glyn Pardoe, who were present in 2012 to see us lift the PL trophy.

RIP Ken.
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This is an excellent piece PB, thanks much for sharing!
 
petrusha said:
RIP. I started going to City in the mid-seventies so never saw him for us, but I remember him playing for Shrewsbury because they were featured occasionally on Granada's Kick Off Match. By that point, he'd gone completely grey. Was a bit of a legend at Shrewsbury because he played there for a long time and helped them get promoted to the old Second Division, the highest they've ever been. I may be wrong, but I think he also played for Shrewsbury against City in their 2-0 FA Cup win over us in 1978/9, which was considered a major giantkilling act at the time.

There's a moving chapter about him in Forever Boys, James Lawton's excellent book about City's Mercer/Allison team. Mulhearn talks wistfully about being dropped the next season after being blamed for the Fenerbahce debacle and suggests that if he'd knuckled down a little more rather than being, as he acknowledges himself, a bit of a Jack the Lad, he might have prospered for longer at the top level. Genuinely moving stuff.

Still, not many win a league championship medal and his achievements at Shrewsbury aren't to be sniffed at, either. Can be proud of what he achieved.
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Was at the FA Cup match at Shrewsbury in Jan 1979 but don't recall Ken playing. I would have remembered him from the 1st division championship team in 67/68 which was my first season following City.
 
peteryates said:
Was at the FA Cup match at Shrewsbury in Jan 1979 but don't recall Ken playing. I would have remembered him from the 1st division championship team in 67/68 which was my first season following City.
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You're right. Managed to find a site that had their line-up for that day and they had a guy called Bob Wardle in goal.
 
Yes Bob Wardle was in nets that day, a game I remember well. In truth it should never have been played due to the conditions, Big Mal was not impressed!

Bob and Ken shared the shirt that season but Bob then took over the following season following our promotion to the old Division 2.

Bob was an outstanding young goalkeeper, the production line was running well long before Joe Hart came along, and he joined Liverpool in 1982 only to have his career cut short by an eye injury just a year later before he could make his Liverpool debut. In my opinion he would have gone all the way to the top, such a shame.

Anyhow, the reason I am posting is to let you know there was a lovely interview with Ken yesterday on Radio Shropshire, repeated from 2012, where he spoke about his days at Man City, the 1st Division Championship winning season then his time with us.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05zvr4d

A BBC logon is needed to listen, fast forward to around 12 minutes into the programme for the interview.
 
MattSTFC said:
Yes Bob Wardle was in nets that day, a game I remember well. In truth it should never have been played due to the conditions, Big Mal was not impressed!

Bob and Ken shared the shirt that season but Bob then took over the following season following our promotion to the old Division 2.

Bob was an outstanding young goalkeeper, the production line was running well long before Joe Hart came along, and he joined Liverpool in 1982 only to have his career cut short by an eye injury just a year later before he could make his Liverpool debut. In my opinion he would have gone all the way to the top, such a shame.

Anyhow, the reason I am posting is to let you know there was a lovely interview with Ken yesterday on Radio Shropshire, repeated from 2012, where he spoke about his days at Man City, the 1st Division Championship winning season then his time with us.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05zvr4d

A BBC logon is needed to listen, fast forward to around 12 minutes into the programme for the interview.
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Cheers. I'll listen to the interview later.

I didn't realise that Wardle went to Liverpool when you signed Ogrizovich. I remember the 'keeper you had after Oggy, as well, though I had to look up his name - Steve Perks. There was a league game in 1988/9 at Maine Road in which we came from 2-0 down (both by Carl Griffiths, whom we later signed) and drew 2-2. Perks let one in direct from a corner, but then stopped everything we threw at him as we pressed in vain for a winner. Anyway, you were pretty well served for goalkeepers for a couple of decades with those four.

As for the Cup tie, I was 10 years old. I used to be in a church choir and sometimes we'd sing at weddings on a Saturday, which was great as we picked up extra cash. We had a couple that day and I only discovered the result when I came home. I couldn't believe it. Seemed like a huge shock at the time, but within a few years we were meeting you regularly in the league! :)
 
There were so many unsung heroes in the '68 team , Bell , Lee and Summerbee grabbed the limelight but players like Ken, David Connor ,Tony Coleman, Alan Oakes, Neil Young and others contributed to a brilliant football team that fought tooth and nail for each other ,and the last all English football team to win the title . Sad news hearing about Ken and it appears he had a good career at Shreswbury and was a popular bloke in Shropshire football , a shame another of the '68 side that has passed away , R-I-P Ken.
 
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